https://www.google.com/amp/amp.usatoday.com/story/571756001/
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Wednesday, August 16, 2017
Tuesday, August 15, 2017
In The Span Of 59 Minutes, Megan Rondini’s Life Changed Forever - Donald V. Watkins
https://www.facebook.com/donald.v.watkins/posts/10213873429492052
In The Span Of 59 Minutes, Megan Rondini's Life Changed Forever
By Donald V. Watkins
©Copyrighted and Published (via Facebook) on August 15, 2017
©Copyrighted and Published (via Facebook) on August 15, 2017
It was the 2014 Iron Bowl weekend in Tuscaloosa. Megan Rondini and her 18-year-old friend were hanging out at Innisfree Irish Pub on University Boulevard in Tuscaloosa. The mood in the Pub was festive. After all, the Alabama-Auburn football game was being played that Saturday.
Terry Jackson "Sweet T" Bunn, Jr., was also in Innisfree having a good time. He spotted Megan's young friend and made a move on her. The photograph below captures this moment.
Sweet T was in the mood for action that night. He was 15 years older than this young woman. Megan quickly sized up the situation and intervened on her friend's behalf. Like most sexual predators, Sweet T simply moved on to his next prey.
Megan did not know Sweet T and he did not know her. She did, however, know this type of man.
Megan and Sweet T would not see each other again until the night of July 1, 2015. That night, Megan was hanging out with a group of friends at Innisfree. Sweet T was also there, but not with her group.
Megan only knew Sweet T by his nickname. She remembered him from the Thanksgiving encounter. Sweet T did not know Megan's name, her status as a University of Alabama honors student, or anything else about her.
The 59 Minutes that Changed Megan Rondini's Life
Megan left Innisfree at 12:05 a.m. Fifty-nine minutes later (at 1:04 a.m.), Megan was desperately pleading with her friends for immediate help as she described to them how she was trapped behind the locked doors of Sweet T's second floor bedroom. He was asleep when her pleas for help were made.
By 1:19 a.m., Megan had decided to climb out of Sweet T's bedroom window and jump to the ground. By 1:40 a.m., Megan was frantically and repeatedly pleading for help. Using the location feature in her phone, Megan was able to give her friends the address to Sweet T's house. They, in turn, were desperately trying to reach her.
By 1:55 a.m., Megan thought she would "die" in Sweet T's bedroom. Megan's friends assured here that they were on their way to Sweet T's house to rescue her. They arrived to pick her up at 2:13 a.m.
Megan was driven straight to DCH Regional Medical Center in Tuscaloosa. Once there, hospital personnel performed a rape kit examination in the emergency room and took a urine sample for forensic testing by law enforcement officials.
Sheriff's investigators arrived at DCH to interview Megan at 5 a.m. Megan told investigators (and her friends) that Sweet T had raped her. Megan remembered him as the "old man" she had met at Thanksgiving.
Investigators located Sweet T at his home and started an interview with him at 5:45 a.m. that morning. He immediately denied that Megan had been to his house and then stonewalled investigators on answering any further questions.
The investigators then left Sweet T's residence. They returned to interview him at 8:37 a.m. The crime scene was left attended and unsecured during this two-hour period. Sweet T, a designated crime "suspect", and Barksdale, a material witness and Sweet T's close friend, were left to themselves inside the residence during this period.
The 59-Minute Timeline Makes Sweet T's Claim of "Consensual" Sex Highly Improbable
After conferring with his lawyer, Sweet T resumed his police interview and stated that he: (a) picked up Megan outside of Innisfree after midnight; (b) drove to Megan's apartment, engaged in small talk with her, and had drinks there; (c) then drove with friend Jason Barksdale and Megan to his house in the county; (d) had unprotected, "consensual sex" with a "outgoing, "friendly", and "flirtatious" Megan, without ejaculating; and (e) fell asleep until he was awaken by investigator Josh Hastings at 5:45 a.m.
Only 59 minutes elapsed from the time Megan left Innisfree at 12:05 a.m. until the time she texted her friends for urgent help at 1:04 a.m. Both sides agree that Sweet T had unprotected sex with Megan at his house during this period. Megan says it was "rape". Sweet T says it was "consensual".
According to Megan, she was not impaired when she left the Pub. Yet, Megan had no memory of going to her apartment with Sweet T and Barksdale. When she returned to her apartment later that morning, there were three drink glasses sitting on her kitchen counter. During his police "interrogation", Sweet T was very evasive when answering questions about whether Megan had been drinking.
Megan's behavior and memory lapses during the 59 minutes she was with Sweet T was consistent with the behavior of a victim who had been unobtrusively administered a "date rape" drug. Yet, investigators never questioned Sweet T about drugging Megan. Furthermore, investigators never questioned Sweet T about any prior reported rape incidents under similar circumstances in which he was designated as the accused rape suspect.
Fifth-nine minutes after she left Innisfree, Megan was frantically pleading with friends to come rescue her from Sweet T's house. The sexual encounter that Sweet T labeled as "consensual" was over, and he was asleep. Megan immediately reported to her friends, hospital personnel, investigators, and family members that she had been "raped".
Megan gave hospital personnel a urine sample for the purpose of confirming the absence or presence of a "date rape" drug in her system. Law enforcement officials never tested her urine sample.
With the help of Tuscaloosa County Sheriff Ron Abernathy, his criminal investigators, and former District Attorney Lyn Head, Sweet T was able to escape criminal justice in Megan's rape case.
Megan Rondini eventually committed suicide by hanging herself. She died on February 26, 2016 -- the same day Sweet T got arrested for his second DUI offense.
Today Marks the First Anniversary of Adam Bailey's Death - Donald V. Watkins - Aug 14, 2017
https://www.facebook.com/donald.v.watkins/posts/10213864142859892
Today Marks the First Anniversary of Adam Bailey's Death
By Donald V. Watkins
©Copyrighted and Published (via Facebook) on August 14, 2017
©Copyrighted and Published (via Facebook) on August 14, 2017
On August 7, 2017, I published an article titled, "Adam Bailey's Murder Shed Light On The Role of GHB In Megan Rondini's Rape Case". Adam Bryant Bailey died one year ago today. He was a 24-year-old forest technician for Forestry Research Contractors in Gordo, Alabama.
In August of 2016, Adam stumbled upon a clandestine sex trafficking ring that his old friend Brett Patrick Davis and several accomplices were operating in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Adam Bailey reportedly went ballistic when he saw a blindfolded and physically restrained underage girl being taken from a vehicle and carried into one of the warehouses to which Brett Davis and his accomplices had access. Adam tried unsuccessfully to intervene on this girl's behalf. This move turned out to be a fatal one for Adam.
Adam Bailey was neutralized to ensure that there would be no further acts on his part to intervene in or otherwise impede the sex trafficking he had witnessed.
On August 7, 2016, Adam was unobtrusively administered a fatal overdose of GHB while he was in the company of Caleb Payne LeGrone, a close friend and drug trafficking partner of Brett Davis. Shortly thereafter, Adam got extremely sick and passed out while he was in the company of Victoria Love, an acquaintance of suspect Caleb LeGrone. Adam experienced nausea, seizures, vomiting, dizziness, depressed breathing, and unconsciousness, all of which are symptoms of a GHB overdose.
Victoria Love contacted Caleb LeGrone to tell him about Adam's physical condition. LeGrone sent a text message to her stating that he (LeGrone) and his accomplices had made up a false story to cover up for what really happened to Adam earlier that night. After speaking with LeGrone, Victoria Love left Adam alone in his truck at his house and went to her home.
Caleb LeGrone and Mathew Fulton Hartley, Adam's housemate, arrived at Adam's house before the police were called. LeGrone told police he tried to revive Adam once they got him inside the house.
After police officers were called to the scene, Adam was taken to DCH Regional Medical Center in Tuscaloosa where he was placed on a respirator for six days. He never regained consciousness. On August 14, 2016 at 10:27 a.m., Adam was taken off the respirator and declared dead.
LeGrone and Hartley were contacted for a follow up interview about the highly questionable text message LeGrone sent to Victoria Love. LeGrone never responded. Hartley did respond, but he wanted an attorney present. Remarkably, the police file does not show any follow-up interviews with LeGrone or Hartley about this matter.
Adam never got a chance to report the sex trafficking activity he had witnessed to law enforcement authorities. He was murdered to prevent this from happening.
On August 16, 2016, an autopsy by the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences listed Adam Bailey's cause of death as a "Seizure Disorder" and the manner of death as "Undetermined". A toxicology report confirmed the presence of various substances in Adam's body, but none that would have caused his death. Some of these substances were administered to Adam as part of his emergency room and ICU medical treatments.
The autopsy procedures did not test the vitreous humor area of Adams' eyes, his tear ducts, or his hair for the presence of GHB. An overdose of GHB would have killed Adam and could have been detected in his body at the time of the autopsy through these testing procedures.
The Tuscaloosa Metro Homicide Unit investigated Adam's death. They closed the case on March 10, 2017, without determining what substance cause Adam's fatal overdose and without following up on Caleb LeGrone's false cover story. No arrest has been made in connection with Adam Bailey's murder.
The police file in Adam's murder case, when viewed under objective and professional standards, is sorely lacking in basic detective work.
Today marks the first anniversary of Adam Bailey's death. An online petition launched by Cindy Gilliam seeks an independent investigation into Adam's murder. In less than a week, the petition has already garnered 1,431 of the 2,000 signatures sought.
The primary suspects in Adam's murder case remain free. Some of them appear to enjoy a special form of protection within Tuscaloosa's law enforcement community as they slide in and out of jail on a carousel basis.
Monday, August 14, 2017
Sunday, August 13, 2017
Sheriff Ron Abernathy and DA Hays Webb will take no action in Megan Rondini's rape case that jeopardizes their free skybox access to Crimson Tide football games - Donald V Watkins
https://www.facebook.com/donald.v.watkins/posts/10213855173075653
Donald V. Watkins Just to be clear, there will be no criminal justice in Megan Rondini's rape case as long as Tuscaloosa County Sheriff Ron Abernathy is in office and Hays Webb is the local district attorney. Look at Abernathy (left) and Webb (right) living it up in a skybox at last year's Alabama versus Kent State football game at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa. These men will take no action in Megan's rape case that jeopardizes their free skybox access to Crimson Tide football games. The Bunn family owns these two compromised public officials and the price to "buy" them was cheap.
Click on Pic
Click on Pic
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#MeganRondini
#SheriffRonAbernathy #HaysWebb
#Alabama #RollTide #Skybox #BryantDenney #UniversityofAlabama
#CrimsonTide
#MeganRondini
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#Alabama #RollTide #Skybox #BryantDenney #UniversityofAlabama
#CrimsonTide
Warning To All Female University of Alabama Students - Donald V Watkins - #MeganRondini #UniversityofAlabama #SweetT #RollTide
COMMENTARY---
The University Of Alabama Sides With "Sweet T" In Megan Rondini Rape Case
By Donald V. Watkins
©Copyrighted and Published (via Facebook) on August 13, 2017 - 6:31 am/ct
©Copyrighted and Published (via Facebook) on August 13, 2017 - 6:31 am/ct
The University of Alabama has chosen a side in the high-profile Megan Rondini rape case. Megan was an exceptionally bright and respected UA honors student who accused Terry J. "Sweet T" Bunn, Jr., of raping her during the early morning hours of July 2, 2015. After Sweet T escaped prosecution on Megan's rape charge, she committed suicide.
The University has abandoned Megan Rondini and is standing with Sweet T in her rape case. By siding with Sweet T, the University has failed Megan and her parents, again, and has placed its female students at risk.
Sources close to the University's board of trustees say the institution is unwilling to jeopardize its longtime financial relationship with the Bunn family over Megan's report to Sheriff's investigators that Sweet T raped her. It's that simple.
Ms. Leslie Abernathy, the University's Director of Corporate and Foundation Relations, oversees donor relationship with major financial contributors like the Bunn family. She is married to Sheriff Ron Abernathy, the man who reportedly ordered his criminal investigators to "script" Megan Rondini's rape case for Sweet T's benefit. This directive transformed Megan from an innocent "victim" of a promptly and properly reported rape into a fully Mirandized "criminal suspect" for actions she took in escaping the crime scene.
The Bunn family's relationship with the University is mutually beneficial and ironclad. Over the years, the Bunn family has shown its support of the University by: (a) leasing a luxury skybox suite in Bryant-Denny Stadium, which required a one-time $500,000 pledge of money, together with a hefty annual lease payment, plus the costs of game tickets; (b) serving as a member of the Crimson Tradition Committee which raised more than $70 million to renovate and construct certain athletic facilities on campus; (c) contributing major donations to the Crimson Tide Foundation; and (d) lending the use of its corporate jet to the Athletic Department.
Terry Bunn, Sr., has also served as a member of the University President's Cabinet, which is a powerful group of about 300 members who advise the President on matters of importance to the alumni, donors, political establishment, and corporate community.
At the time Megan Rondini accused Sweet T of rape, Terry Bunn, Sr., and Terry Bunn, Jr., were gubernatorial appointees to the governing board of separate state agencies. Each represented the district that encompasses Tuscaloosa.
By aligning itself with Sweet T, the University has chosen to ignore a mountain of evidence supporting Megan's rape claim. As we understand it, the University is clinging to a false and misleading narrative, birthed by Sweet T and packaged by his protectors in the local law enforcement community, that an "outgoing", "friendly", and "flirtatious" Megan Rondini wanted to have spontaneous, "consensual", unprotected sex with him, unaided by the administration of a "date rape" drug. Parroting a PR theme from a recent Bunn family attack ad against Megan, University officials are privately telling concerned parties that text messages in Megan's phone on the night in question support this narrative.
No text message on Megan's cell phone or Sweet T's phone evidences her consent to have any kind of sex with Sweet T. His number was not in Megan's phone, and hers was not in Sweet T's phone.
By embracing Sweet T's false and self-serving narrative, the University has elevated its financial relationship with the Bunn family over the safety and security of one of its brightest and most disciplined female students.
Since Megan's rape case became public in June, the University has not taken any steps to warn freshman and upper class female students about Sweet T and his predatory behavior. It has taken no steps to ban Sweet T, a 2005 alumnus, from the campus. Furthermore, the University has not requested Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate Megan's rape case, from top to bottom.
Instead, the University has quietly collaborated with the Bunn family and others to trash Megan Rondini in the court of public opinion and in the court of law.
In light of this catastrophic failure of leadership by University President Stuart Bell and the University's board of trustees, we are issuing the appropriate warning about Sweet T to all incoming and returning female students. This warning is issued solely for the purpose of preventing another Megan Rondini-type incident, which ultimately resulted in the tragic loss of her life.
On August 2, 2017, President Bell issued what he characterized as an "important message about sexual misconduct reporting and resources." This message, which was issued in the wake of growing criticism over the University's mishandling of Megan Rondini's rape case, simply shared general information on "resources, reporting options and support available to those affected by sexual misconduct."
To the disappointment of many, Dr. Bell did not have the courage to use the word "rape" in his "important message" and he did not have the decency to address Megan Rondini's rape case in his passive "Cover-Your-A--" message.
Again, Dr. Bell's message focused on what female victims of sexual assaults can do AFTER they have been raped. Megan properly reported her rape case, but it did not matter because the "suspect" involved was well connected to the Tuscaloosa law enforcement community and the University.
Dr. Bell's message was completely devoid of any new rape prevention measures being implemented by the University to minimize the possibility that Megan's tragic experience can happen again to another female student.
Finally, the University's unholy alliance with Sweet T and the Bunn family in the Megan Rondini rape case sends a powerful message to all female students that when the institution has to choose between supporting a student who is a rape "victim" and a "suspect" who is the immediate family member of a big-money donor, the University will subjugate the value it places on the lives and safety of its female students in order to side with the big-money interests every time.
COMMENTARY -- The University Of Alabama Sides With “Sweet T” In Megan Rondini Rape Case - Donald V. Watkins -- Warning to All Female UA Students
https://www.facebook.com/donald.v.watkins/posts/10213855173075653
COMMENTARY---
The University Of Alabama Sides With "Sweet T" In Megan Rondini Rape Case
By Donald V. Watkins
©Copyrighted and Published (via Facebook) on August 13, 2017 - 6:31 am/ct
©Copyrighted and Published (via Facebook) on August 13, 2017 - 6:31 am/ct
The University of Alabama has chosen a side in the high-profile Megan Rondini rape case. Megan was an exceptionally bright and respected UA honors student who accused Terry J. "Sweet T" Bunn, Jr., of raping her during the early morning hours of July 2, 2015. After Sweet T escaped prosecution on Megan's rape charge, she committed suicide.
The University has abandoned Megan Rondini and is standing with Sweet T in her rape case. By siding with Sweet T, the University has failed Megan and her parents, again, and has placed its female students at risk.
Sources close to the University's board of trustees say the institution is unwilling to jeopardize its longtime financial relationship with the Bunn family over Megan's report to Sheriff's investigators that Sweet T raped her. It's that simple.
Ms. Leslie Abernathy, the University's Director of Corporate and Foundation Relations, oversees donor relationship with major financial contributors like the Bunn family. She is married to Sheriff Ron Abernathy, the man who reportedly ordered his criminal investigators to "script" Megan Rondini's rape case for Sweet T's benefit. This directive transformed Megan from an innocent "victim" of a promptly and properly reported rape into a fully Mirandized "criminal suspect" for actions she took in escaping the crime scene.
The Bunn family's relationship with the University is mutually beneficial and ironclad. Over the years, the Bunn family has shown its support of the University by: (a) leasing a luxury skybox suite in Bryant-Denny Stadium, which required a one-time $500,000 pledge of money, together with a hefty annual lease payment, plus the costs of game tickets; (b) serving as a member of the Crimson Tradition Committee which raised more than $70 million to renovate and construct certain athletic facilities on campus; (c) contributing major donations to the Crimson Tide Foundation; and (d) lending the use of its corporate jet to the Athletic Department.
Terry Bunn, Sr., has also served as a member of the University President's Cabinet, which is a powerful group of about 300 members who advise the President on matters of importance to the alumni, donors, political establishment, and corporate community.
At the time Megan Rondini accused Sweet T of rape, Terry Bunn, Sr., and Terry Bunn, Jr., were gubernatorial appointees to the governing board of separate state agencies. Each represented the district that encompasses Tuscaloosa.
By aligning itself with Sweet T, the University has chosen to ignore a mountain of evidence supporting Megan's rape claim. As we understand it, the University is clinging to a false and misleading narrative, birthed by Sweet T and packaged by his protectors in the local law enforcement community, that an "outgoing", "friendly", and "flirtatious" Megan Rondini wanted to have spontaneous, "consensual", unprotected sex with him, unaided by the administration of a "date rape" drug. Parroting a PR theme from a recent Bunn family attack ad against Megan, University officials are privately telling concerned parties that text messages in Megan's phone on the night in question support this narrative.
No text message on Megan's cell phone or Sweet T's phone evidences her consent to have any kind of sex with Sweet T. His number was not in Megan's phone, and hers was not in Sweet T's phone.
By embracing Sweet T's false and self-serving narrative, the University has elevated its financial relationship with the Bunn family over the safety and security of one of its brightest and most disciplined female students.
Since Megan's rape case became public in June, the University has not taken any steps to warn freshman and upper class female students about Sweet T and his predatory behavior. It has taken no steps to ban Sweet T, a 2005 alumnus, from the campus. Furthermore, the University has not requested Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate Megan's rape case, from top to bottom.
Instead, the University has quietly collaborated with the Bunn family and others to trash Megan Rondini in the court of public opinion and in the court of law.
In light of this catastrophic failure of leadership by University President Stuart Bell and the University's board of trustees, we are issuing the appropriate warning about Sweet T to all incoming and returning female students. This warning is issued solely for the purpose of preventing another Megan Rondini-type incident, which ultimately resulted in the tragic loss of her life.
On August 2, 2017, President Bell issued what he characterized as an "important message about sexual misconduct reporting and resources." This message, which was issued in the wake of growing criticism over the University's mishandling of Megan Rondini's rape case, simply shared general information on "resources, reporting options and support available to those affected by sexual misconduct."
To the disappointment of many, Dr. Bell did not have the courage to use the word "rape" in his "important message" and he did not have the decency to address Megan Rondini's rape case in his passive "Cover-Your-A--" message.
Again, Dr. Bell's message focused on what female victims of sexual assaults can do AFTER they have been raped. Megan properly reported her rape case, but it did not matter because the "suspect" involved was well connected to the Tuscaloosa law enforcement community and the University.
Dr. Bell's message was completely devoid of any new rape prevention measures being implemented by the University to minimize the possibility that Megan's tragic experience can happen again to another female student.
Finally, the University's unholy alliance with Sweet T and the Bunn family in the Megan Rondini rape case sends a powerful message to all female students that when the institution has to choose between supporting a student who is a rape "victim" and a "suspect" who is the immediate family member of a big-money donor, the University will subjugate the value it places on the lives and safety of its female students in order to side with the big-money interests every time.
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